The Presidential candidate of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C), Irfaan Ali, has made it clear that he will make no further efforts to clarify issues about the authenticity of his qualifications.
In his first press conference since his expedition across the country, the PPP Presidential candidate vouched that he is honest and very comfortable with the information in the public domain about his qualification.
Ali said he has no qualms with the lack of clarity on the issue.
“I can’t speak for the clarity [the media] has,” he said, “I don’t know how much more clarity the media can get.”
His comments come in light of questions surroundings the authenticity of his academic certification.
Earlier this year, Ali’s qualifications were exposed as questionable. The Presidential hopeful has been unable to name the University where he did his first degree qualifying him for a spot at an Indian University at which he pursued his Master’s Degree.
Ali has been avoiding questions about his qualifications. He had promised to provide transcripts from the universities, which he attended.
However, instead of addressing the issue frontally, Ali chose to burden media operatives with an hour-long essay about his countrywide tour in preparation for the General and Regional Elections.
But as soon as they were given the opportunity, the media corps swarmed Ali with questions about those qualifications, and he refused to provide answers to just about every question posed to him.
“I’m very comfortable with who I am. My focus, now, is to take the PPP/C on to victory, to create a better Guyana for all Guyanese, to create better opportunities for Guyana. That is my focus, my energy, and my life is concentrated on it,” he said.
Ali was asked about a qualification he supposedly received from a suspiciously obscure West Coast Demerara, institution, the Chamber Business School. He had used that paper to apply for matriculation to his Master’s Degree at the Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in India.
Refusing to provide details on that first degree, Ali stuck to the line that has already published his certificates and will say nothing further. The certificates in question, Ali claimed, were published on his Facebook page.
This was the rhyme the Presidential candidate sang throughout the press conference, as members of the media, unsatisfied with the lack of clarity provided, piled on questions about different aspects about his credentials.
He said that the differing questions posed to him by the press indicate that, “the goalpost keeps changing” – that when he answers to one issue about this qualifications, another arises.
Ali said, “I believe that I have the experience. I believe that I have the competence. I believe that I have managed large-scale projects. I have experience in policy making. I have played an integral part in economic transformation, and building a number of the economic policies.
“I have shadowed the economic sector in Parliament. I have chaired the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). I have worked in the housing sector. I have worked in project planning and development. I created a Development Project Implementation Unit. I possess a wide array of experience in terms of my qualifications.”
He has indicated that he is in the process of completing a Doctorate and a Master’s in Law in International Commercial Law, and that when he completes those studies, he will release the certificates to the public as well.
Ali said that he has seen persons try to use his qualifications as “political football” and that he does not want to continue along that vein.
“As I said before, I have put all my qualifications out there. I work hard for my academic qualifications. I stand by them. They are out there. And you could scrutinize them.”
He said that a number of persons whom he considers independent, have already gotten the chance to verify the authenticity of his certificates, including the President of the Transparency Institute of Guyana Incorporated (TIGI), Troy Thomas, and that they have already adjudged his credentials to be authentic.
Further, Ali told the press that he will in any case, not be working alone but with an entire team.
“I am surrounded by the best team, surrounded by skills, surrounded by people who are interested in the development of Guyana,” he stressed.
“This is an issue that I’ve answered before he said.
“And I’ve issued a statement on it. I know what I said. I know that I’ve released my certificates. There is nothing more to add.”
Source: Kaieteur News